Technologies

BBC Breakfast host Sally Nugent has been missing from her usual spot on the red sofa this week – and her absence hasn’t gone unnoticed.

The 52-year-old usually presents the current affairs programme alongside Jon Kay every Monday to Wednesday but was replaced by Sarah Campbell, who regularly steps in for the main hosts.

This isn’t the first time Sally has been absent in recent weeks as she also missed three days at the end of June.

Fans have missed seeing Sally on their screens and took to social media to ask where she has been. One person asked: “Switched on #BBCBreakfast, but there’s no sign of Sally, what is going on?“

A second viewer penned: “Where was Sally Nugent???????” while another feared she had left the programme.

While Sally hasn’t addressed her absence from the show, it’s very possible that she’s simply taking some time off. It was around this time last year that Sally took a break from work to enjoy a summer holiday in Marbella, Spain with friends, including her former BBC Breakfast colleague Steph McGovern.

At the time, Sally shared some gorgeous sun-soaked snaps from her trip abroad, including one of the star looking super glamorous in a white, strappy beach cover-up.

While BBC Breakfast viewers have been missing Sally, they’ve loved seeing more of Sarah on their screens.

Commenting on Sarah’s Instagram page back in June, one person wrote: “Hopefully we’ll see lots more of you on the red sofa this summer, you definitely look at home there Sarah,” while another added: “Lovely to see you on Breakfast.“

Sarah has been a familiar face on our screen for decades, having joined BBC Breakfast as a reporter back in 2003.

Since 2024, Sarah has been an official presenter of BBC News after spending ten years as Royal Correspondent.

Sharing the exciting update on her LinkedIn page, Sarah penned: “After dabbling for a year or so, I am now officially a presenter/correspondent with BBC News. This means less time standing outside in all weathers and more time in the studio.

“When they’ll have me- I will also continue to front BBC Breakfast- Britain’s most watched breakfast news programme,” the journalist continued, adding: “2024 is shaping up to be another big year of news…so it should be a busy one!!”

Ilon Musk, founder of Neuralink, has reported the first successful application of brain-machine technology on a living person. According to him, the brain implant surgery was successful, and now the patient is undergoing rehabilitation. This is still an experimental technology, which at this stage has no practical use, but is extremely necessary to work out the elements of the new interface.

A special robot R1 has inserted an N1 chip into the human brain. The chip has the dimensions of a coin and is placed in the place of a removed fragment of the skull bone. It has 64 electrodes immersed in the brain matter through which signals are exchanged. Communication is two-way, 1024-channel, and the chip itself contains tools to connect to third-party devices and exchange data with them.

Pages: 1 2

A team of scientists from Switzerland’s EPFL, led by Professor Sylvester Micera, has conducted research into the possibility of humans using a third arm. This was done as part of the Third Arm project, which aims to study the possibilities of human use of artificial body parts. In this case, the possibilities of concentrating attention on controlling three functional limbs at once were studied.

In the first phase of the study, participants were given virtual reality headsets, gloves and a special belt with sensors for abdominal muscle movements. Three hands were displayed in VR, the third was symmetrical, with two thumbs on each side, and was controlled by abdominal movements. Experiments with 61 volunteers for 150 hours showed that people very quickly learn this system and begin to control the third hand quite well.

Pages: 1 2

The design consists of two parts on one base, which can flexibly sway in the wind and has a wide outer surface to catch raindrops. The lower part contains a wind generator consisting of several layers of Teflon, copper electrodes and nylon fibres. Under the action of the wind, they expand and contract, rubbing against each other, allowing static electricity to build up.

The upper part is represented by an energy generator made of water droplets. The Teflon substrate here is covered with an electrically conductive fabric, and as the water droplets roll down the substrate, an electrical imbalance builds up and electrons are generated. Both of these generators can operate in parallel – for example, during a thunderstorm.

Pages: 1 2

SynComs are created in the laboratory from modified versions of bacteria that live on crops. Scientists make combinations of them to solve specific tasks – as a result, it is possible to form a microbiome with specified properties, which should replace dangerous herbicides.

In practice, Chinese scientists have found that herbicides and SynComs can perfectly complement each other. Experimentally, it was found that the best result was a dosage of 50 per cent and 75 per cent herbicides. It helps reduce yield losses by 22% and creates a sustainable insect defence.

Pages: 1 2

An unusual material called Sugarcrete has won the Climate Positive Awards for its contribution to reducing emissions and reusing materials. The technology was created by scientists from the University of East London and British firm Tate & Lyle Sugars. The only thing this material has in common with classic concrete is the way it is used as a building material.

Sugarcrete is made using sugarcane cake, a waste product of sugarcane processing, which gave the material its name. Previously, the cake was considered to be rubbish, because in the process of cane processing, everything useful is extracted from it, leaving only tough fibres. However, if they are mixed with binders, compressed and allowed to dry, a kind of analogue of a clay brick or concrete block is obtained.

Pages: 1 2